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Jodi Beggs: Economists Do It With Models

This site was started by Jodi Beggs, currently a lecturer at Northeastern University who has made many advancements for Economics in pop culture (like economics lessons in The Simpsons). Her posts appeal to a wider audience with easy to understand narratives, humor and wit.

Mario is no longer a plumber

Earlier this summer, four economists released a working paper suggesting that part of the decline in male labor-force participation can be attributed to the increased quality of video games. You can see an article about it here, and you can also see a non-technical summary of the paper as part of the NBER digest.Conceptually at least, this makes sense- better leisure activities increase the opportunity cost of working, which decreases the net benefit of working, and generally we do less of...

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Doubling Down: Leveraged ETFs offer promise – and danger

Every once in a while, I get contacted to answer questions and/or provide quotes for articles, news programs, etc. (Nothing will ever be as neat as the feature in Grazia though.) The latest was an inquiry from a very nice fellow named Chris Taylor, who is the money guy for Reuters. The article is linked above, and here is the larger context: Okay, what actually happened was basically this: Chris: Can I ask you some questions about leveraged ETFs?Me: Oh hell no.Chris: Oh sorry to disturb...

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Nation’s Middle Class Chillingly Reappears Out Of Nowhere

So I’m not entirely clear on what The Onion is making fun of here, but I have a couple hypotheses: 1. (more obvious) If polls are to be believed, the economy immediately improved once Trump got elected. Yes, this seems absurd if taken literally, but I guess this is what the concept of “animal spirits” is supposed to be all about. If enough people believe that Trump will be good for the economy and act accordingly, it kind of becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. But it still doesn’t happen...

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Rivalry in consumption: the degree to which one person consuming a good makes it more difficult for…

Rivalry in consumption: the degree to which one person consuming a good makes it more difficult for another person to fully consume the same unit of the goodUsage: A good generally exhibits high or low rivalry in consumption.Examples: A fireworks display exhibits low rivalry in consumption. An ice cream cone exhibits high rivalry in consumption. (Alternate phrasing: An ice-cream cone exhibits rivalry in consumption.)See also:THIS VIDEO IS SACRED… ? pic.twitter.com/o7ivZtJf8x— Life on...

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Economics Conference Tests Job Seekers’ Mettle

This is cute because it makes the process seem kind of badass, but here’s the thing- the WSJ has to be, well, the WSJ, so this description is both accurate and completely misleading. As such, allow me to provide my less sanitized but more representative account: Yes, there is a big economics conference- the annual meeting of the “Allied Social Sciences Association,” which is the parent organization of the American Economic Association- held the first weekend in January each year,...

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